No. 4.] PLANT DISEASES. 21 



PLANT DISEASES. 



BY PROF. L. K. JONES, BUKLINGTON, VT. 



It is with much diffidence that I have accepted the invita- 

 tion of your honorable secretary to address a Massachusetts 

 audience upon the subject of plant diseases. I am aware 

 that one of the earliest and most far-sighted measiu'es of the 

 colonial assembly of Massachusetts was the enactment in 

 1755 of a law requiring the extermination of every barberry 

 bush in your Commonwealth. Why ? The botanist did not 

 know, the agricultm'al scientist, if he then existed, did not 

 know, but the farmers of Massachusetts knew that in some 

 way that barberry bush was breeding disease in thek" wheat. 

 Your practice led our science by a full century. 



And I am the more diffident at crossing the State line in 

 the capacity of a teacher in plant pathology, since from my 

 student days I, in common with other workers in this field, 

 have looked to Massachusetts for our strongest leadership. 

 Foremost among these leaders stands Professor Farlow of 

 Harvard University, who for over thirty years by precept 

 and practice has emphasized the importance of the most 

 painstaking thoroughness in the study of the fungous para- 

 sites which cause some of the worst of these diseases. More- 

 over, from your Agricultural College at Amherst two men 

 have been instructing you, and us of other States, for nearly 

 two decades ; and the emphasis of their teachings has been 

 laid upon matters of such fundamental importance that I can 

 do nothing more useful than to repeat and accentuate them. 

 The foundation doctrine in Professor Humphrey's teaching 

 was, that in dealing with a plant disease understanding of 

 the causes must precede the successful application of reme- 



